The Rules of Elevator Chess

Elevator Chess is a game played on multiple chessboards; when it is
played on just one board, the rules are exactly the same as FIDE Chess (so, in effect, Elevator Chess
can't really be played on just one board).

When it is played on more than one board, each side starts with
one full set of pieces on each board, makes one move per turn
on each board, any piece on an elevator square has the option of
making an elevator move instead of a normal move, and victory is
achieved by winning a preponderance of the games.

Each Side

A side may be a single player or a team of players. One side plays
the White pieces on all boards, and the other side plays Black on
all boards.

One Move on Each Board

The concept is one move per board, but there is no requirement for
synchronicity.

When the game is played by mail or by email with one player per side,
each player is able to make one move per board on each exchange,
as long as it is her turn to play on that board; however, it is
permissible to defer movement on one or more boards, as long as
at least one move is made somewhere.

When the game is played by team, face-to-face, normally there
will be one player per board, and each board will proceed at its
own speed.

Elevator Moves

An elevator move is made by taking a piece which is already on
an elevator square, and moving it up or down one step to the
corresponding empty square. For example, a Pawn on e4 can be moved
away to e4 on either adjacent board, as long as the destination
square is empty.

Kings may not ride the elevators.

When an elevator move is made, it uses up that side's turn on
the board it leaves, but on the board where it arrives it does
not. For example, suppose that while it is your move a friendly
Knight suddenly appears on d5, giving check to the enemy King;
you can capture the King, thus winning the game! (Note that doing
so moves it off the elevator square.)

Notice that if you're playing in a game of 1000 boards, you only need
to be aware of the boards to your right and left.

Cyclical Elevator Moves

When Elevator Chess is played with large teams, and a large number
of boards, it may be possible to arrange the chessboards in a circle
so that player 1 is next to player 100, and can make an
elevator move from penthouse to basement.

This is more fun than being blocked on one side, so it is legal,
and even encouraged.

The Victory Transfer

When a game is won on one board, first the winning side makes
one elevator move if it can, transferring one piece that
is already on an elevator square,
and then all pieces are removed from the board
and the elevator on that floor is closed.

When the elevator to a floor is closed, elevator moves ignore it.
In a team setting, this means that somebody is required to sit at
the empty board and transfer pieces immediately in the
proper direction.

(This rule is intended to be simple, to minimize stalling, and
to give the winning side some advantage on other boards
without starting a tidal wave of victories.)

Elevator Blockage

One problem with this rule is that in a match between two teams of
1000 players each, late in the game you might not be able to see
your neighbors (the next active board might be 100 floors away
on the elevator).

For this reason there must also be a rule that
when two consecutive boards have finished no transfers can be
made through them.

Different Armies

Elevator Chess is generally value-preserving, which means that it can
and should be played with Different Armies; each
side having a different army.

One exception is the Nattering
Nabobs of Negativity. If one side used this army, it could profit
by transferring all of its negative-valued pieces to a board where it
was losing anyway, and resigning that game.

Each player could also have a different army. This would be a bit
confusing, but it could be fun if played with the right attitude. Two
applicable rules are (1) a Fibnif making an elevator
move remains a Fibnif; it does not become a Knight or a WD, or whatever is
native to the board it arrives on. (2) a Pawn promotes to whatever is
native to the board where it promotes.

Recommended Settings

There are three recommended ways to play Elevator Chess.

Two Players, by Email

With one player per side, and playing by email, the number of
boards can be as large as the players feel comfortable with.

The most common choices will probably be to play with two or
three boards, but playing with as many as ten boards is probably
doable.

Two Players, Realtime

With one player per side, playing face to face or on the internet,
playing with two boards (and two clocks and two sets of pieces)
is recommended.

Multiple Players, Realtime

With many players per side,
playing face to face or on the internet,
it is recommended that each player plays one board.

There is no logical limit to the total number of boards, but
of course it would be extremely difficult to arrange the
physical facilities for a game
between two teams of a hundred players each;
the noise level would likely cause hearing loss in the
participants.

In practice, teams of 3 to 6 players per side should be
lots of fun.

The Place of Elevator Chess

With one player per side, and a limited number of boards,
Elevator Chess is just another pretty good multi-board game.

With multiple players per side,
Elevator Chess is not a substitute for Double Bughouse Chess,
nor is it a direct competitor; but it should appeal to
nearly the same
set of players. Elevator Chess is more flexible with respect to
the number of players per side, and perhaps offers a few more
interesting strategies than bughouse does.

Elevated Strategies

If you are losing without hope, it may pay to resign right away.
By doing so you can prevent your opponent from transferring out
excess pieces to help his side on other boards.

If you are winning big, you want to try to unload a few excess
pieces and Pawns to your neighbors, and also to position something
on an elevator square so that you can take advantage of the
Victory Transfer.

Empty elevator squares are a great danger because enemy pieces may
appear there, but they are also a great benefit because friendly
pieces may show up. Conversely, occupied elevator squares block
arrivals.

Collisions

Suppose that you pick up your Knight from e4 and attempt to make an
elevator move with it, but by the time your hand reaches the
neighboring board you find that e4 is already occupied; or suppose
that you wish to move a piece on your own board, for example Ba2-f7,
but by the time your hand arrives at d5 you find that the square has
already been occupied by an elevator move from some other board.

In both cases, the rule of touch-move is waived. You must replace
the piece you tried to move on its original square, but then you are
free to make any other legal move.

Wildness

Alice's Elevator Chess can be
played with two sets and two boards, but you must add the rule that
capturing moves do not transfer from Board A to Board B.

"Displaced Elevator Chess" would be the name of a game where the
elevator squares were in different locations on different boards.

It makes almost no difference to the game on your board if your
neighbor to the right is playing Billiards Chess or Cylindrical Chess, or
even if your neighbor is playing on a 10x10 board.

In Automatic Elevator Chess, each turn e4 and d4 move up while e5 and
d5 move down, a conveyer-belt type of action. This would happen Avalanche-style, after
each player's move, and it would require that all of one side's boards
be played at the same time.

In 3D Elevator Chess, the central cube of 8 locations would be
elevator squares, moving pieces in the fourth dimension from one
8x8x8 chessboard to the next.

In 7x7 Elevator Chess, only the centermost square is an
elevator square.

In Elevator Chess for Many Teams, you might for example
have 4 teams of 2 players each playing on 4 boards; Team A
could play White on boards 1 and 2, while team C had Black on boards
2 and 3.

Closing Statement

Elevator Chess is a simple idea, but it has a characteristic
which seems to me to be especially unusual.

When played between two players with two boards, it is intrinsically
a serious game, with great strategic interest; but when played
between two multiplayer teams it is fundamentally a social
game, lots of fun but don't take it too seriously.

I like when chess, xiang-qi and shogi are played at the same time. How about this: on chess board square d4 corresponds to xq d5 and e5 and shogi d4, d5, e4 and e5; e4 corresponds to xq e5 and f5 and shogi e4, e5, f4 and f5; d5 corresponds to xq d6 and e6 and shogi d5, d6, e5 and e6; e5 corresponds to xq e6 and f6 and shogi e5, e6, f5 and f5; xiang-qi d5 corresponds to shogi d4 and d5; d6 corresponds to shogi d5 and d6; e5 corresponds to shogi e4 and e5; e6 corresponds to shogi e5 and e6; f5 corresponds to shogi f4 and f5; f6 corresponds to shogi f5 and f6?
Not as complicated as it sounds.

Nerdy indeed!
I had envisioned something like 'Heads up! Bishop coming though!' But the
clock runs while you're on your hands and knees under the table looking for
it, so restraint would be encouraged.

Twisted Elevator Chess is a fine idea; and the name Twisted avoids the
nerdy connnotations of Helical. Note that a B going up one board changes
color, but regains its normal color if it returns to its original board.
Clearance by elevator is something I didn't think of, but it's a fine
tactical element, and also perhaps a nice problem theme on the two-board
game.
Hilarity by express elevator might work, but I doubt it. The only fair way
is to first announce to which board the piece is going (perhaps blindly)
and then get up from your seat with the clock running and carry it there.
If a collision occurs, same rule as always, you walk back to your own board
and replace the piece and then are free to make any. Express could pass
through blocked levels?
Or had you pictured the mechanics of express more like this: the player
picks up the piece, screams 'EXPRESS!!!', and then throws the piece in the
general direction of a teammate?